Saving Sam
Donation protected
Please watch the above video to meet my friend Lydia “Sam” Rawlings.
You will see that Sam is a survivor. No matter what the Universe throws at her, she fights back. When she was diagnosed with MS (Multiple Sclerosis) in 1974 she was told she would be in a wheelchair in 2 years and dead within 5.
In 2004, she founded and ran Scriptwrights, a non-profit weekly writers group for screenwriters. I applied to join her group and met her in 2005. At that time she was still walking, unassisted.
Between 2004 and 2010, Sam wrote eight feature screenplays, placing in a number of contests and beginning to get interest in her work. Unfortunately, she took a downturn in the April of 2010 when her boyfriend and caregiver, Mikey, had a major stroke. With no relatives on either side in the vicinity, Sam called me in tears asking if I could drive her to the hospital. I helped them through that ordeal and have continued to assist them with their various needs. Since Mikey also became disabled, Sam needed to have caregivers come in to help with her basic needs.
There were some ups and downs but overall everything was going well. This past year she finally found a neurologist, specializing in MS, who didn’t dismiss her and determined that she may not have MS. While waiting for more information, she caught a virus that turned into pneumonia last March. After a brief hospital stay she was transferred to a nursing home to rehabilitate before going home. While there, her blood oxygen had decreased to a level that required she go to a hospital, where the ER doctor punctured her right lung. She was sent to ICU where she coded (her heart stopped) and they had to do chest compressions. That was April 9, 2015. She was intubated (a tube is inserted into her trachea through her mouth) and put on a ventilator (that machine that breathes for you). Weeks later it was determined that her lungs had been weakened to the point that she would need a tracheostomy (a tube is inserted into her trachea at the base of her neck) to have any chance at survival.
We transferred her to a different hospital for that procedure and she was then sent to a respiratory hospital to be weaned off the ventilator. Thankfully, we finally were able to bring her home (with many stipulations) just three days before her birthday! Sam is now required to have home care (she has 7 caregivers to meet her medical needs) around the clock for an endless number of tasks including suctioning secretions, tube feeding, exercising to name a few.
Unfortunately, the maximum hours she can get through her disability benefits are 283 hours per month. There are 720 hours in a 30-day month so the remaining 437 hours amount to an out-pocket payment of over $4200 per month. Mikey has cashed in his retirement savings to cover it so far, but that won’t last very long. We are expecting to pay around $5000 per month to cover the physical, occupational and speech therapies when her Medicare runs out for that benefit.
On a very positive note, we have found a new team of amazing doctors for her pulmonary and trach needs. They have already downgraded her to a smaller trach and with their support, she is now working harder than ever to prove the other doctors wrong who said her trach would be permanent.
Sam is a great person and very grateful for the support of her caregivers, doctors, therapists and me. Now she looks forward to being grateful to you; whether through a donation or just the time you spend to share her story through your social media.
And I promise that we will be posting regular updates of her progress, complete with photos and videos.
Thank you so much for taking the time to meet Sam and Mikey through their video and story.
With continued gratitude from,
Sam and Mikey!
And Me
(Deborah aka Chesher Cat)
You will see that Sam is a survivor. No matter what the Universe throws at her, she fights back. When she was diagnosed with MS (Multiple Sclerosis) in 1974 she was told she would be in a wheelchair in 2 years and dead within 5.
In 2004, she founded and ran Scriptwrights, a non-profit weekly writers group for screenwriters. I applied to join her group and met her in 2005. At that time she was still walking, unassisted.
Between 2004 and 2010, Sam wrote eight feature screenplays, placing in a number of contests and beginning to get interest in her work. Unfortunately, she took a downturn in the April of 2010 when her boyfriend and caregiver, Mikey, had a major stroke. With no relatives on either side in the vicinity, Sam called me in tears asking if I could drive her to the hospital. I helped them through that ordeal and have continued to assist them with their various needs. Since Mikey also became disabled, Sam needed to have caregivers come in to help with her basic needs.
There were some ups and downs but overall everything was going well. This past year she finally found a neurologist, specializing in MS, who didn’t dismiss her and determined that she may not have MS. While waiting for more information, she caught a virus that turned into pneumonia last March. After a brief hospital stay she was transferred to a nursing home to rehabilitate before going home. While there, her blood oxygen had decreased to a level that required she go to a hospital, where the ER doctor punctured her right lung. She was sent to ICU where she coded (her heart stopped) and they had to do chest compressions. That was April 9, 2015. She was intubated (a tube is inserted into her trachea through her mouth) and put on a ventilator (that machine that breathes for you). Weeks later it was determined that her lungs had been weakened to the point that she would need a tracheostomy (a tube is inserted into her trachea at the base of her neck) to have any chance at survival.
We transferred her to a different hospital for that procedure and she was then sent to a respiratory hospital to be weaned off the ventilator. Thankfully, we finally were able to bring her home (with many stipulations) just three days before her birthday! Sam is now required to have home care (she has 7 caregivers to meet her medical needs) around the clock for an endless number of tasks including suctioning secretions, tube feeding, exercising to name a few.
Unfortunately, the maximum hours she can get through her disability benefits are 283 hours per month. There are 720 hours in a 30-day month so the remaining 437 hours amount to an out-pocket payment of over $4200 per month. Mikey has cashed in his retirement savings to cover it so far, but that won’t last very long. We are expecting to pay around $5000 per month to cover the physical, occupational and speech therapies when her Medicare runs out for that benefit.
On a very positive note, we have found a new team of amazing doctors for her pulmonary and trach needs. They have already downgraded her to a smaller trach and with their support, she is now working harder than ever to prove the other doctors wrong who said her trach would be permanent.
Sam is a great person and very grateful for the support of her caregivers, doctors, therapists and me. Now she looks forward to being grateful to you; whether through a donation or just the time you spend to share her story through your social media.
And I promise that we will be posting regular updates of her progress, complete with photos and videos.
Thank you so much for taking the time to meet Sam and Mikey through their video and story.
With continued gratitude from,
Sam and Mikey!
And Me
(Deborah aka Chesher Cat)
Organizer and beneficiary
Chesher Cat
Organizer
Los Angeles, CA
Michael Lefeber
Beneficiary
